Zoom Only good things to say, Jean-Joseph has...

At the end of the 42nd Portugal Rally, Simon Jean-Joseph and Jack Boyere made the most of their C2-R2 MAX's potential to win Group A and their class, as well as the two-wheel drive category. Using their extremely effective BFGoodrich tyres, the Citroen, prepared and maintained by the PHSport team, showed its class on the Portuguese stages.

The rally was run in the Algarve region to the south of Portugal, and kept up the standards as well as part of the route that was used last year on the World Championship. The route consisted of just over 249 competitive kilometres split amongst 13 stages. Having met with universal approval in 2007, the organisation and the roads were once more exemplary.

Simon Jean-Joseph was one of the many to be delighted by this event. At the end of the recce, he enthused about the spectacular nature of the gravel stages. The rally got underway with a spectator superspecial around the streets of Faro on Thursday night, while the first day on Friday allowed Simon to get to grips with the local territory.

He was immediately at his ease, climbing to the lead of his class, Group A, and the two-wheel drive category.

"We got off to a perfect start," said the man from Martinique. "I had a very good feeling with the C2-R2 MAX, which was disconcertingly easy to drive. It felt competitive and natural both in the dry of the opening loop, as well as in the damp of the afternoon."

The Citroen crew started leg two with a double objective. They aimed to continue to dominate the category and also to improve their position in the overall classification. Throughout the day, the enthusiastic Portuguese fans – who are as passionate as they are enthusiastic – gave the C2-R2 MAX a warm welcome.

"I think they were amazed at the performance and the show that a car of this size could provide," said Jean-Joseph at the finish. "The development work that Citroen Sport has put into this car really paid off today. The MAX grips, slides, jumps and lands really well. The only thing that myself and Jack regret is the fact that there's not another day tomorrow!"

"We can draw an extremely positive conclusion from this third rally of the season for Simon and Jack," said Jean-François Liénéré, who is responsible for Citroen Sport's customer operation. "Once more, the C2-R2 MAX demonstrated excellent performance and reliability. Just as was the case on the asphalt of the Rally Eger a few weeks ago, our tyres from BFGoodrich were absolutely flawless. We had no punctures at all, and the way they worked on the Portuguese stages allowed the Citroen crew to perform to the best of their abilities."

© CAPSIS International